Bliss

I'm back and properly exhausted as one should of course be after a holiday.

We stayed here, in Marazion, where the castle at St Michael's Mount looks out over the bay.  The minute we arrived we hit the beach and tried out the sea.  Oh it was good.

It was a fantastic week of sun, beaches and exploring.  There were lots of pretty cottages to look at, with Cornish gardens and seaside colours.

Mousehole was particularly lovely; lots of little cottages all crammed into tiny streets with plenty of art galleries and some nice cafes and shops.

We visited the amazing Minack Theatre, built onto a rocky clifftop.  How I'd love to see a play there.  Not this time unfortunately, but it was great to walk round anyway.

We also walked around St Michael's Mount and the church and castle there.  The island has been settled since the 8th century, and the current priory church was built in the 14th century.   This is the castle.

The St Aubyn family live in some of the rooms, but there are plenty of others that you can walk round.  I loved the library, which had stunning views out to sea.  Imagine sitting in there in the winter, in front of a roaring fire, reading, sewing, playing chess...

It wasn't all ancient buildings though.  There was a little of this...

...one or two of these... (this one spotted by the littlest boy and purloined by other half in a daring act of bare handed bravery)

and there was lots and lots of this...

It was a hot week, and the sea was utterly blissful.  I even swam in it and didn't feel cold after the initial icy shock.  The littlest boy was rolled around in it as if in a washing machine at one stage.  He made the mistake of bending down in a rough sea to pick up his little float.  The first wave knocked him down, the second one dragged him under, the third one turned him over a couple of times.  It took me that long to grab hold of him and pull him up.  Poor thing, he was dripping sand, sea water and sunscreen and sobbing, "I can't see, I can't see."  After that he preferred little waves and just getting wet up to his knees. 

This picture is for Devon, who writes a wonderful blog in sunny California and likes a little surfing herself.

You will note he's being careful not to get too close to any actual waves.

Now it's back to real life with the inevitable post-holiday bump.  I've done the allotment open day and Sports Day under the searing sun.  I've vaccumed up the sand and unpacked the large onion that the littlest boy found bobbing along in the sea on the last day and insisted on bringing home.  I've put some shells on the mantelpiece to remind me of a wonderful week with happy boys and I've found a spot for the pirate accoutrements - eye patches, a cutlass, a dagger, some pieces of eight and a really handy hook.  Aar har me hearties.  Normal service is resumed.